For many years, video games have been a popular form of entertainment for players of all ages and skill levels. Since the earliest games have first been introduced to the public, there has been a continuous effort on the part of game developers to produce games having a realistic feel. In this regard, the NINTENDO WII presents a vast improvement to the state of the art.
WII games are played by means of a WII controller. The WII controller uses accelerometer and optical sensor technology to sense the motion imparted by a player to accordingly manipulate images displayed on a game display screen. Players of WII games use the WII controller to simulate the various motions associated with all types of games and sports such as, for example, bowling, golf, baseball, basketball, golf, tennis, boxing and car racing.
The closest that developers have come to simulating a driving experience is through the means of a steering wheel device, which houses a WII controller. The steering wheel is not connected to any supporting structure, but rather is it held in a player's hands and rotated about its axis by a player.
Because of several factors, the WII steering wheel does not successfully replicate the driving experience. First, a player sits in his/her normal surroundings—which is very different from sitting in the confines of a vehicle. Moreover, the steering wheel must be held with two hands at all times because it is not attached to any supporting structure.
The concept of an inflatable kart for use by a player during video game play already exists in a product identified as the WINFUN Plug and Play kart. The WINFUN game does not simulate the real world experience of the WII game in that it does not sense the movement of the steering wheel as a real parameter in the skill of the driver operating the simulated automobile. Instead of a rotatable steering wheel that is adapted to receive a game controller, the WINFUN product comprises a hard-wired control having buttons to control movement on a screen. In fact, as a consequence of the real life action achieved with the current invention, the inventors have found that it is important to ensure that the steering column be securely attached to the housing because of the need for such connection to be maintained and to provide an accurate driving experience. Such secure attachment was not required with the WINFUN product.